


Another Person, Another Promise

by red_jaebyrd



Series: Whumptober 2020 [2]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Robin (Comics)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Batman to the rescue, Broken Promises, Bruce Wayne is Batman, Detention center taken from Robin: Year One, Dick Grayson Needs a Hug, Dick Grayson misses his parents, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Prompt Failed escape, Sad Dick Grayson, Whumptober 2020, Young Dick Grayson
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-05
Updated: 2020-10-05
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:46:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26839177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/red_jaebyrd/pseuds/red_jaebyrd
Summary: “Are we done?” Dick asked.Batman nodded. “You won’t be here long. I promise.”There it was, the empty promise to ring in a new month in Hell. It was exactly what Officer Bullock had said, then later Commissioner Gordon and now Batman. Another person, another promise – this time from a guy in a mask.Dick is tired of adults making promises and not following through. If they weren't going to help him get out of this boys' detention center, he'd have to figure out his own way to escape.
Series: Whumptober 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1948573
Comments: 4
Kudos: 73





	Another Person, Another Promise

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [You know that whole thing where after Dicks was sent to a detention center](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/696541) by drawing-cookie. 



> Dick is aged up in this fic, so instead of 8 years old when his parents die, he's 12.

Batman had told him to stay, that it wouldn’t be too much longer; that he’d find a way to get him out of the boys’ detention center and find him a home. For the first few weeks, Dick held onto to the hope of those words like a lifeline until the promise of escape fell away like water through cupped hands. After a month those words were nothing but useless platitudes said to him to keep him from asking further questions about his parents’ murder.

He wouldn’t listen to Batman anymore no matter how scary the man appeared to be. This place was poison. He didn’t belong here. He wasn’t a criminal. He was just a boy who no longer had parents. Perhaps the cops thought they were doing him a favor; a pre-emptive strike bypassing a foster home and instead sending him strait to jail. Social Services in Gotham City was seriously messed up.

Dick had been at the boys detention center a month and it was already the longest month of his life. Every day was a lesson in finding new hiding places so he wouldn’t get his butt kicked. No one cared that he didn’t do anything to start the fight. No one cared that he didn’t belong here with young criminals. All that mattered to them was that he was “fresh meat” and needed to know the rules and the “lay of the land”.

There was a twisted hierarchy that existed at these centers. Dick postulated that it didn’t really matter who was the biggest in size (though it helped), what mattered was who had the seniority.

Dick had gotten jumped on his first night at the detention center. “The welcome wagon” had been five boys that came into his room at lights out. They had told him if he knew what was good for him – he’d keep his mouth shut. This wasn’t a problem, who was he going to tell? The guards didn’t care. The cops that had come to question him about his parents’ murder didn’t bat an eye at his busted lip or the way draped his arm over his bruised ribs.

After the first two weeks Dick started to get a bit braver. He embraced the anger and started to fight back. Not enough to cause any damage, but enough to send a message that he wasn’t anyone’s punching bag. He used these fights as an outlet to let out the anger he had felt at being ignored by Batman. The man hadn’t come to see him since his first night at the Center.

This newfound bravery of course backfired and now the beatings increased with more frequency. The anger soon started to drift into depression and indifference.

At his one month anniversary of being at The Center, Dick got a visitor. The Batman had come to see him. Under different circumstances he’d be happy with the visit, but truthfully Dick was tired. He was tired of the lies and promises that came with every adult visitor.

Dick didn’t smile, make eye contact or say a word to the towering man standing in front of him in the small visitors’ room.

“What happened to your eye?”

“I fell,” he answered. “Any leads?”

“Some. The progress is still slow.”

“Right…so…why are you here?”

“I just wanted to check on you.”

Dick nodded. He wanted to ask Batman when he could leave and go home or go back to the circus, but it was pointless. No one seemed to know how much longer he still had to be at The Center, so he stopped asking. Every time he had asked, it was the same answer, ‘Not much longer. I promise’. It was the promise that stung the most, because a month had passed, and he was still here in this hell hole getting beat up every night at lights out.

“Are we done?” Dick asked.

Batman nodded. “You won’t be here long. I promise.”

There it was, the empty promise to ring in a new month in Hell. It was exactly what Officer Bullock had said, and later Commissioner Gordon and now Batman. Another person, another promise – this time from a guy in a mask.

“Whatever,” Dick sighed.

888

The meeting with Batman just made Dick more depressed. He lay in his bunk pressed up against the wall hoping the shadows would swallow him. He had reached the point where he had stopped caring about anyone rescuing him. He had no one in his corner. No one was fighting for him. There was no one else in his life anymore that he could depend on for safety, reassurance, or love. The only people he had in his life were he parents and they had been taken from him. God, he missed his parents.

He missed their touch, the pressure of their hugs, and the proximity of their existence in his life. The weight of their absence pressed on his chest until he could no longer breathe. He fought hard to push down the lump in his throat, but it was no use. He finally let out the sobs he had been holding in for a month. A month had passed and he hadn’t even allowed himself to mourn them.

He still had nightmares of the night they had died. He could still hear the rope snap, smell the metallic scent of blood, and see the look of horror on his mom’s face as she fell.

Dick pulled himself further into the shadows of his bunk, allowing himself the space to cry. He hugged his pillow tightly to his chest just for the pressure in the hopes that it would help calm him down. No comfort came from hugging the pillow, but it did help muffle the sound.

This place was slowly suffocating the life out of him. If Bullock, Gordon or Batman weren’t going to get him out of here, he had to do it himself. He couldn’t wait to make a thorough escape plan. It had to be tonight.

Ultimately this plan was dumb and impulsive. But Dick had reached a reckless desperation that planning would take too long. He knew where all the great hiding places were as he had honed this skill over the last month to avoid fights with the older boys.

He stuck to the shadows using the darkness to sneak through the halls using his agility as an acrobat to his advantage. Dick’s goal was to make it to the basement laundry room. There was a window high up on the wall that lead to the street level. No one without acrobatic experience would be able to reach it. It was an easy climb to maneuver. He planned the jumps in his head many times when he was assigned to the laundry room.

Dick’s biggest hurdle was getting passed the guards’ station. He took his shoes and socks off to avoid them squeaking on the tile and giving him away. He knotted the laces of both shoes to keep them together and placed them around his neck to free up his hands. Waiting behind a wall he watched as the three guards leave the station to walk the halls. Luckily the laundry room was in the opposite direction. Dick wasted no time heading straight over there.

The door was never locked, but it was sticky. It squeaked something terrible as he opened it but Dick was careful not to let it slam shut behind him. Dick wasted no time making his way down the stairs into the laundry room. The Warden had purposely not placed any machines under the window should any of the boys use it as a boost to sneak out. Dick didn’t need anything under the window to make it. He climbed onto the nearest machine and jumped.

Just as his hands made contact with the windows ledge, he heard the door squeak open and the sound of jingling keys as someone descended the stairs.

“Hey, where do you think you’re going?”

Dick scrambled to get the window open with one hand. He could hear the heavy footfalls of the guard approaching. It was at this moment that he thanked the universe for making him a very short and agile 12 year old. The guard couldn’t reach his legs, but it wasn’t for a lack of trying.

The handle on the window was hard to pull up. Especially since Dick could only use his one hand. He knew the window opened. He’d seen it opened during the day when the dryers were on. His sweaty hand was making it more and more difficult to grip the handle, but he wasn’t giving up. He was so close to getting out of here. He couldn’t give up now.

Dick tried not to get distracted by the scraping sound of a ladder below him. He continued to pull up with all his might on the handle. Finally, the handle budged and he pushed open the window feeling the cool Gotham air in his face. His victory was short-lived as he then felt his body jerk down as the guard grabbed his ankle.

“You’re not going anywhere, you little shit.”

Dick tried to shake out the grip on his ankle while still holding onto the ledge of the window.

“Get off!”

Dick kicked out and made contact with the guard’s face. The guard lost his balance and so did he. The ladder clattered to the ground, and Dick struggled to find purchase on the window ledge with arms. He had the upper body strength to hoist himself up but the exertion used to open the window and fight off the guard exhausted his muscles. Tears started to swim in his eyes. It wasn’t looking like he was getting out of here.

His biceps were straining to hold him upright on the window ledge. His toes anchoring him on the wall were getting sore. The ankle the guard yanked throbbed along with his rapid heartbeat. He could hear thunderous sounds of more guards coming into the laundry room. He was so screwed.

Dick took a breath and proceeded to hoist himself upward. His muscles shook horribly at the effort.

“Here, I got you,” a gravelly voice said from outside the window. Hands suddenly grabbed Dick under his arms and helped pull him out of the window.

Dick allowed the help once he registered that the voice belonged to Batman. He only had a moment to collect his bearings before three guards surrounded them outside; including the one Dick had kicked off the ladder.

“We’ll take it from here,” The guard said, reaching out a hand to grab Dick.

Dick scuttled away and stood behind Batman, using him as a shield between him and the guards.

“Please, Batman, don’t let them take me,” Dick whispered. He was on the verge of tears now as the adrenaline slowly started to seep out of his body. “I can’t go back there. Please, you _promised_.”

He looked up in time to see Batman looking at him and giving him a small nod of the head before returning his attention back to the lead guard.

“I don’t think so, the boy coming with me,” Batman growled.

“Under whose authority?”

“The Division of Child Protection and Permanency. All the necessary paperwork is on the Warden’s desk. Richard John Grayson is now a ward of Bruce Wayne.”

Dick’s head snapped up at the name Bruce Wayne, the billionaire wanted _him_ to be his ward? This had to be a joke. He didn’t trust the information. Why would Bruce Wayne want to help him anyway?

The guard looked like a fish out of water struggling for words that were not coming.

“We’re done here,” Batman said. “Dick, get into the car.”

Dick did what he was told and got into the sleek black car that was parked near where he had climbed out of the window. He wasn’t sure that he trusted Batman yet. He wanted to believe that Batman had his best interests. He wanted to trust that Batman was telling the truth and was sending him somewhere safe.

Dick tried to brace himself for eventual bad news, because living with Bruce Wayne was just too good to be true. There had to be a catch somewhere. There was always a catch to something. He never used to be this cynical when his parents were alive, but their death changed him in ways that even he never saw coming.

They drove a little ways before Dick was brave enough to ask his question.

“Is it true, about my paperwork?”

“Yes.”

“You weren’t lying…about Bruce Wayne wanting to take me in permanently?”

“No.”

In only a month he saw the worst in people, mostly kids around his own age, but also adults. Some adults meant well, but none of them kept their word. They easily made promises but constantly broke them.

“What’s the catch?”

“No, catch. I pro –,”

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Batman.”

Batman kept his eyes on the road and his hands on the steering wheel. He pushed a button that must have been an auto pilot feature, because the car started driving itself. He slipped his cowl off and turned to look at Dick.

Dick immediately recognized the face.

“Whoa, you’re Bruce Wayne.”

“We’re going home, my home. I promise you, Dick, no more surprises. No more secrets.”

Dick just stared at him trying to find his words. He had so many things to say to that statement. None of them were good; most of them were offensive and started with an ‘f’.

“Will you let me help you with the investigation into my parents’ murder? Tell me all the leads you have so far on their case. Leave nothing out?”

Bruce sighed. “I promise to tell you everything of relevance. But if it starts to be too much for you, and leads to negative change in your behavior, I’m restricting your access. Deal?”

Dick thought over the terms and found them agreeable.

“Deal.”

The car rushed through a waterfall leading further into a dark tunnel. The car stopped and spun lifting on hydraulics as it settled into an elaborate underground lair.

“Welcome home to the Cave.”

“It’s a _Bat_ Cave,” Dick corrected.

“Follow Alfred, he will show you to your room upstairs.”

“There’s more?” Dick asked.

“Much more, young sir," Alfred answered. "I shall give you the grand tour, but first let’s get you something to eat.”

Dick was in awe of his surroundings. He just became the ward of Bruce Wayne, who was also Batman. Batman was still on the case looking into his parents’ murder. He was no longer staying at a detention center and constantly worrying about getting beat up. He was home.

“Mr. Wayne,” Dick called.

“Yes, call me Bruce.”

Dick ran full tilt toward his new guardian and wrapped his arms around his waist.

“Thank you, Bruce, for getting me out and bringing me here.”

“You got yourself out, Chum.” Bruce said, returning the hug. “I just pulled you out of the window.”


End file.
